The Truth About Pollen
by Nytel
Summary: John and Teyla have an encounter with some Atlantian plants. The effects of this are... interesting.


**The Truth About Pollen**

"Ugh," John said, sounding disgusted as he looked around the room they had just entered. "More dead plants?"

"It would appear that way," Teyla said, trying not to laugh as she entered behind him. She was faced with a clear view of all the tables covered in ancient potted plants.

She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he pushed the talk button on his radio. It was hard not to admire him.

"Rodney," he said. Teyla heard the crackling noise in her headset that meant Rodney was about to talk.

"I'm busy right now," was his snarky response. She looked over to where John was standing near a huge table at the center of the room. At the same time he looked over at her. They shared an exasperated look over his answer. She had to stifle another laugh.

"Well, I'm not," John said. "All that I see here is a whole bunch of ten thousand year old dead plants."

Teyla walked over to a nearby smaller table full of dried, brown… flowers? It really was pathetic, they had absolutely no use for these plants, but they kept finding them.

"You found more?" she heard over her headset.

She turned around to look at John and found him rolling his eyes. "Yes Rodney," he said. "Another room full of dead plants, what a surprise." He wasn't even trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

"Well keep looking," McKay said. "There's supposed to be another ancient lab in this part of the city somewhere."

"Well it's not here Rodney, although we may have found the home of the botany club."

Teyla gave him a funny look, having no idea what he was talking about. He shook his head slightly and mouthed 'never mind'.

"You're so funny," was Rodney's sarcastic reply.

"It's the **third** plant room that we've found in the last hour and a half."

"Well keep looking," Rodney said, starting to get mad. "There is a lab around there somewhere."

Then the transmission cut out and Teyla knew it was Rodney killing the feed.

"What do we do?" Teyla asked, turning to walk away from the small table.

John shrugged his shoulders half-heartedly. "Keep looking I guess, but I swear that we'll only find more plants."

"But they're so beautiful," Teyla replied jokingly.

John just smiled at her. "Let's go," he said, indicating the doorway.

He started walking and just as Teyla was going to fall in step beside him she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. Pausing midstep she turned to look. Whatever she had glanced it had come from the back corner of the room.

"What?" John asked, obviously noticing that she wasn't behind him.

"I thought I saw something," she said as she began to pick her way around the various tables, heading for the back corner. The lighting was dim, but she could see well enough to find her way back there.

She heard heavy footsteps and John jogged up behind her.

"Be careful," he said. "There are such thing as poisonous plants you know."

She smiled at his protectiveness. "I know, but these plants are dead."

"Hopefully."

"Are you scared of them?" she asked teasingly.

He let out an indignant snort and she did laugh that time. Considering how little they had accomplished, she was having a good time.

They had made it to the corner and Teyla couldn't see anything unusual, at least more unusual than a room full of withered and decaying plants.

"I'm not seeing anything," John said.

"It may have been nothing," she said quietly, as she peered intently at one of the nearby tables. There didn't look like there was anything but she was sure that she had seen _something_.

John placed his hand lightly on her shoulder. "Come on," he said. "We'd better go before Rodney has a fit."

She nodded and as she turned she saw it again. She pulled out of John's grasp and took a few steps back toward the table. There was one plant, near the back, that looked less decrepit than the others, if that was possible. It was medium sized, in a plain clay pot, and at one time it might have had lovely flowers.

"Did you see that?" she asked John.

"No," he replied.

Using the light from her P-90, she illuminated the plant in question. In the brighter light she could see that it was actually still alive, even though it wasn't green.

"Nasty," John said from behind her. "We should go Teyla, we don't know anything about ancient plants."

She lowered her P-90 and when she went to turn off the light the plant let out a huge cloud of pollen. It sprayed everywhere and Teyla didn't even have time to cover her mouth. She inhaled a huge amount and started to cough and she doubled over, nearly choking on it.

John was coughing too, but somehow he managed to pull her back toward the door, far away from the plant. Once she managed to stop coughing she stood up straight and looked at John.

"You ok?" he asked through watery eyes.

"I think so," she said as she let out one last cough and then wiped the tears from her eyes. "What was that?"

"I have no idea."

* * *

Beckett and a team of medics met them outside the door to the room. They were all dressed in hazmat suits. His first question was, "Are you feeling any side effects?"

Teyla shook her head and John said, "No."

"Well," Beckett said. "That might be a good sign."

"Thanks," John said sarcastically.

Beckett ran all of his tests, and he couldn't find anything wrong. One of the medics even went in and tried to get the plant to do the same thing, but it didn't happen. As Beckett pulled off the hood to his suit he said, "Everything seems fine to me."

"Good," John said, pulling his vest back on.

"But, I want the two of you to try and head back to the main part of the city. If the city tries to go into a shutdown then we'll know you're infected with something."

"So comforting."

"Thank you Dr. Beckett," Teyla said quietly, looking over at where he stood.

"You're welcome love."

Teyla wasn't sure why that earned him a death glare from John.

* * *

They made it back to the central tower of the city without any problems. John headed off to his quarters and Teyla made her way to hers. She found that she was feeling rather tired so she laid down for a quick nap. When she got up she showered and changed into a clean pair of pants and a new shirt that she had gotten on her last trip to the mainland.

It was Athosian style, and she really liked it. The days were getting hotter on Atlantis and she knew it would be nice to wear. It was sleeveless, and made of a light material. She also really liked the look of it: low cut and made from a pale blue material.

On her way out the door she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and couldn't help but smile. It was nice to wear something different for a change.

* * *

She entered the mess hall, finding it quite crowded. She grabbed some of whatever they were serving for dinner and headed over to a table near the back where she saw that John, Ronon and Dr. McKay were all sitting.

Ronon was facing towards her and saw her first. His eyes shot up in surprise toward what she assumed was her outfit. She didn't care though; if she wanted to wear something other than work clothes, she was going to.

Rodney noticed her next and he actually began to choke on a mouthful of food. John, who's back was towards her, said, "Rodney."

"Sorry," he choked out.

Teyla would have laughed, but after the two reactions she had seen she was feeling unsure of her clothing. _Maybe it's too much._

"It's not," John said, and she noticed that he had turned around in his chair and was openly staring at her.

"It's not what?" she asked, confused by his comment.

He looked her in the eye before responding, "It's not too much."

She felt slightly disoriented. _Surely I didn't say that out loud,_ she thought, but she really wondered if she did.

"You did," John said.

"She did what?" Rodney asked, sounding confused.

"She said it out loud. God, aren't you listening?" He said all of this while maintaining eye contact with her. The odd thing was, she couldn't force herself to look away either.

There were a few moments of silence, and some intense staring before Ronon spoke up. "She didn't say anything except 'it's not what'."

John broke the gaze and turned to look at Ronon. "She didn't?" Teyla could tell by his voice the he was worried.

_Damn it_, he shouted.

"John!" she said, taken completely by surprise.

He turned to look at her again. "That plant may have had an effect after all."

* * *

"It gave them telepathic powers?" Dr. Weir asked Dr. Beckett skeptically.

He nodded. "Aye, that's one way of putting it."

"Are you sure?" She asked as she glanced over at where they were sitting on the infirmary beds.

"Well," he said. "I can only take their word for it."

"Can't you detect…?"

"I'm afraid not. Although the scans do show a slight increase in their brain functions." He gave Elizabeth a worried look.

"Hello!" John said loudly. "We're right here."

"I know that Colonel," Beckett said calmly, turning to face him.

_It's kind of like he's talking to a child._

"I'm not a child," John said indignantly.

Carson looked at him oddly. "I never said that you were."

Teyla blushed; _I have to watch what I'm thinking about._

"No kidding," John said, turning to look at her from one bed over.

"Well," Carson said shifting his gaze back and forth between the two of them. "It's either that or they're losing their minds."

"Hey!"

"We are not losing our minds Dr. Beckett."

"It's not you that I'm worried about love," he said in a sympathetic voice

Carson reached over to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. She was quick to notice another death glare from John. _Don't touch her!_ His voice was loud and angry in her mind. She jumped slightly when she heard it and Carson must have noticed because he asked her if she was feeling all right.

John must have noticed too because all of a sudden he blushed slightly, something that she had never seen before. "Are we done?" he asked angrily.

Carson nodded. "Aye, you two can go, but check in with me first thing in the morning, and if you notice any other side effects."

"Fine," John said as he hopped off the bed and headed straight out the door.

Teyla was slower to leave and she got an odd look from both Carson and Dr. Weir before she left, although she didn't really blame them. From their point of view John and her were claiming to be able to hear each other's thoughts, and that wasn't exactly normal.

_Why the hell did I think that?_

Teyla stopped in the hallway suddenly, realizing that it was John's 'voice' in her head.

_Jealousy gets you nowhere._

She was surprised at the bitterness in his voice. She knew that she should think something, let him know that she could hear his thoughts, but another part of her wanted to know what he was thinking.

_Besides, it's not like Teyla would ever want you anyway. We're friends, that's it._

She was surprised at how sad he sounded. She then realized that she was standing in the middle of the hallway, and she stepped over to the side.

_I'm pretty stupid though really. I mean, falling for someone who is **never** going to want me._

Teyla couldn't believe was she was hearing. _He has no idea that I feel the same way_.

Before she even had a chance to realize what she had just done, she heard John. _Teyla?_

_Yes?_ She thought.

_Did you…did you um… did you hear that?_

She nodded her head, but remembering that he couldn't see her she thought, Y_es._

_Crap!_

_Did you hear what I thought?_

Suddenly she felt nervous. She really hoped that he had been too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice.

_No._

She didn't feel the relief that she was expecting to feel. She had become privy to his feelings about her, and in a way it was like she had one up on him. She decided to even the playing field.

_I… I feel the same way John._

_You what!_ She could tell he was surprised. It was so easy for her to picture his confused face in her mind and it brought a smile to her face.

_You heard me._ She felt a little more daring now; this whole telepathy thing might not be so bad after all.

_Really?_

He was so hopeful and it just solidified her feelings.

_Yes._ She tried to think it firmly, so that he would have no reason to doubt her.

_Oh. I never knew._

Teyla found herself beginning to walk towards where John was. Their connection had given her an uncanny ability to sense where he was. She could also tell that he was walking towards her.

_I never knew that you felt that way about me._

It was odd, she could hear him chuckle even though he was nowhere near her.

_Maybe I should have told you._

She smiled before replying, _Maybe I should have told you._

This time it was an all out laugh, but it was different somehow. She realized that was because she was hearing it with her ears too. She watched intently as John rounded the corner, finally coming into view.

His smile was infectious, and she couldn't help but grin back at him. She was only a little surprised when he walked right up to her and kissed her. They were in the middle of the hallway, but there were no people around.

She reached up and wrapped one hand around the back of his neck, fingers brushing against his soft hair. He responded by pulling her close to him and deepening the kiss.

Teyla had no idea how long they stood there kissing, but eventually they pulled apart, they did need to breathe after all.

John rested his forehead against hers and she grinned up at him when he said, "Maybe this telepathy thing isn't so bad after all."

* * *

Three days later Teyla was standing outside on one of the many Atlantian balconies. She was leaning against the railing and looking over the ocean. It was late, but the stars were beautiful, the air was fresh, and she couldn't bring herself to go in.

She jumped and let out a small cry of surprise when she felt a pair of arms encircle her waist from behind. Even though the effect from the plant had worn off, she didn't need to turn around to know that it was John. She intertwined her hands with his and peered out at the vast expanse of stars. "It's beautiful," she said quietly, knowing that he could hear her.

"Yep."

When she turned her head around to look at him he wasn't looking at the stars.

**The End**


End file.
